Photos
from the Meeting
by Bruce Smith |
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Guest Editor Pat Boy
Photographer Bruce Smith
Bernie was too busy at work to make it to Rotary
today (but that means that business is good for Bernie). President
Bruce Zahn called the meeting to order today at the Michigan
City Yacht Club. Julie Wozniak gave the invocation, an Irish
prayer that fit superbly with the corned beef and cabbage for
lunch.
Bruce reminded us that GSE is coming up soon.
We now have homes for all five visitors (thanks to Rhett Fagg
for taking two). We are also in need of drivers for RYLA. Contact
Bruce Zahn if you can drive for this event. Also, the District
Conference is coming up soon.
Bruce gave an update on the NCAA-bracket contest.
Currently in the lead are John Lake and Dave Lawson (tied for
first place) and Bryan Potratz in second place. He told a story
about focus and a player who had part of his finger cut off
so that he could get back in the game sooner (doesn’t
sound smart to me).
Rod Bensz paid for his announcement about “Integrity,”
a community-wide business breakfast event. Contact Rod for more
information.
Dave Lawson did a great job as Sarge. There were
no visiting Rotarians. Norm Ryding brought a guest, Major Leanne
Burkett from the Salvation Army, who is interested in joining
Rotary. Prospective member Matt Kubik was also in attendance.
Contact Bruce Zahn if you have any objections to his membership.
Dr. Houck won the drawing, but only pulled the
10 of hearts, too bad. The birthday table had no program, so
they all paid. The lone impostor paid as well.
Dave gave us a chance: everyone who paid for anything
interesting to say would be exempt from any further fines today.
Not everyone heeded his suggestion.
Bryan Potratz gave for his alma mater Gonzaga
in the Sweet 16. Jim Scott missed last week because he was skiing
(without his skis?) and a 7-year old girl gave him some apparently
unappreciated advice. Rod Bensz was happy there was SUNSHINE!
Maggi Spartz was leaving early but had some brochures on several
upcoming workshops. See Maggi for more info.
Bruce Zahn asked for volunteers to fill out the
NCAA sheets for members who were missing. Bruce Smith gave for
the new IU coach, even though he doesn’t know who it will
be(?). Tom Keene’s daughter-in-law is due to deliver twins
on Tuesday (if she can hold out till then).
Dale Engquist has had various body parts removed
in the past and thought it was not very good judgment to give
up ANY of them voluntarily (see Bruce’s story above).
Dr. Liddell asked us all to consider voting for John Lake in
May. Norm Ryding will have a new (adopted) 12-year-old granddaughter
very soon. Congratulations, Grandpa!
Julie Wozniak’s son Grant is entering horses
in the County Fair, and spoke in public for the first time.
Nervous? A bit, but he did just fine. Mike Hackett’s 5-year-old
won a pair of Croc shoes from Rod by eating hotter buffalo wings
than Rod.
Jim Bell has reservations for the Four Freshmen
concert and for the LaSalle Grill. He missed last week because
he just got back from Mexico. Steve Hornyak reminded us of the
LaPorte County Symphony this Saturday at Elston.
Ed Merrion was not present to claim his gift certificate
for having his name spelled backwards in the last Foghorn. Too
bad. And to follow up on his earlier warning, Dave fined $2
for everyone else who didn’t speak.
Dennis Boy introduced the speaker, John Kirby,
Professor of Modern Language and Classical Literature at Purdue
University. Professor Kirby just returned from a field trip,
a tour of Transylvania with his students. (It is doubtful that
he was also returning from a one-night gig in New York’s
Vampire State Building, as Dennis said in his introduction.)
The course they were taking was based on the question “Why
do we love vampires?” He took 15 students to Bucharest
where they saw Vlad’s childhood home (it was closed).
Next they visited Vlad’s castle in the Carpathian Mountains,
and finally Vlad’s tomb in a chapel on an island in a
mountain lake.
During their trip, they found Henry James to be
accurate when he said that “Abroad is closed.” John
was able to visit the tomb of Vlad in a chapel on an island
although he was told it was closed and inaccessible due to the
weather. The Romanians apparently love American money and he
found a way in.
The tradition of vampires in movies goes back
to the beginnings of cinema and Nosferatu, almost as far back
as the 1897 Bram Stoker novel, Dracula, on which it was loosely
based. The Nosferatu image was nothing like the sophisticated
“Good Evening” style of Bela Lugosi (who, by the
way, spoke no English, pronounced every line phonetically, and
was buried in his cape). Bram Stoker never visited Transylvania
(a real place, part of Romania) and never even left England.
Most of his novel takes place in England for that reason. He
based his novel on the book, The Land Beyond the Forest (Trans-sylvania).
Another interesting book that traces the connection between
Vlad and vampires is The Historian.
Romanians don’t associate Prince Vlad with
vampires. His father was knighted by the Holy Roman Emperor
in the Order of the Dragon and became Vlad Dracul. The title
was inherited, and his son became Vlad Dracula (son of Dracul).
The field trip to the castle took two hours by
coach and then John and the students climbed 1,460 steps to
reach it. The mountain castle was really a fortress, where Vlad
withstood the Turks to become a national hero, although he first
impaled 25,000 of his own people to try to scare the Turks away.
During the siege of that castle, Vlad’s wife jumped to
her death to avoid being taken by the Turks (where Stoker’s
book begins), and Vlad later shod his horse backward to make
his escape.
The tomb in the island chapel has fresh flowers
and burning candles daily, but when it was opened in 1930, it
was empty except for a few animal skeletons. He finished with
that eerie thought.
Bruce adjourned the meeting, but several people
stayed to ask questions.
See you next week.
Pat
